HOME  â€¢  SYLLABUS/SCHEDULE  •  ASSIGNMENTS  â€¢   COURSE RESOURCES   •   YOUR PAGES   •   YOUR FEEDBACK

 

 

A S S I G N M E N T S

 

 

Assignment 1: HTML - Hypertext Design

 

Web design is all about DESIGNING YOUR USER'S EXPERIENCE. Review the design notions we've been discussing in class, and expand on your ideas of web design by collecting links to sites you find particularly inspiring.  List a few of your favorite sites on your wiki page.

 

Your task is to not necessarily re-create these sites, but just draw from them what you can - - ideas about interface, a visual style or approach, how the information is organized. Then, create a site that conforms to the following specs:

 

I NDEX page, TOP LEVEL LINKS to 4 or five other pages: HOME (or BEGIN, the link back to the index page), BLOG (or Web 2.0), FLASH, and CONTACT. You might have even one or two more links, maybe PORTFOLIO or CURRENT PROJECTS or SOMETHING ELSE. You don't need to have content on the SONIC, FLASH, and SOMETHING ELSE pages at this point. 

 

Not a requirement, but HIGHLY recommend you create a re-useable NAVIGATION and FOOTER page, that you can insert into each of the Top Level Pages via the <iframe>.

 

CSS page, linked to your Index page and Top Level pages: Create styles for AT LEAST the <p>  tag (body text), and the <h1> and <h2> tags (Probably page title, and one other heading).

 

For this first assignment, I'm more interested in a COMPLETE, WORKING STRUCTURE than a superneat design. But have a superneat design in mind - you'll be updating this structure for the final assignment

 

BE READY TO SHOW IN CLASS - OCTOBER 2

 

Assignment 2: Sound Textures

 

Now, we shift gears a little bit.

 

Sound is often the last thing most media creators think about. Not in this class. You'll be creating a set of SHORT samples,  in the three texture types of AMBIENT, RHYTHMIC, and SOLO. More about that here (also, you can explore material on my old site by clicking on Sound Examples).

 

Here's the kicker: You're NOT going to be WRITING A SONG. You're going to be creating COMPONENTS or ELEMENTS that can be infinitely remixed and layered, using a Flash-based sound mixer. 

 

Think of it this way: You're creating parts of a landscape painting or photo. The background - - maybe it's a pristine grassy meadow, maybe it's a blurry cityscape, maybe it's clouds - - corresponds to your AMBIENT textures. Maybe a fence runs through it, maybe a road with evenly spaced markers, maybe a procession of ants or an orderly parade of zombies  - - this would be your RHYTHMIC textures.  And finally, in your image, there are a couple of trees, or cows, or a spectacular car crash or a bewildered old man babbling incoherently (no, wait, that would be me . . .) . These elements, which command our ATTENTION, are the SOLO elements.  

 

All these elements are SEPARATE AUDIO FILES. DO NOT try to combine everything in one audio file FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. Remember, DON'T MAKE complete, fully produced SONGS - - don't try to combine the three texture types. So here's what I want:

 

Three (3) AMBIENT textures, each between 15 and 45 seconds, in .mp3 file format, stereo, 48K 16bit PCM 

•  Can be pitch based (containing slowly changing, discernable pitches)

•  Can be non-pitch based, containing ambient sounds, noises, electronic ditritus, and perhaps even natural and organic sounds IF THEY ARE NOT * TOO * INTERESTING or RHYTHMIC.

•  Would prefer you make each file with a HAIRPIN dynamic shape (i.e., fade in the first part, fade out the last part).

 

Three (3) RHYTHMIC textures, each between 8 and 30 seconds, in .mp3 file format, stereo, 48K 16bit PCM 

•  Would prefer them to be non-pitch based, using PERCUSSION or other NON-PITCHED INSTRUMENTS (in Garage band, or your own choice of  loop-generating software such as Abelton Live, Logic, etc. ).

•  Rhythmic textures can containing ambient sounds, noises, electronic ditritus, and perhaps even natural and organic sounds IF THEY ARE NOT * TOO * INTERESTING or 'PITCHY'. Pitch- based rhythmic textures are harder to work with and mix.

•  You don't need to REPEAT a rhythmic pattern multiple times. We will be able to loop them when we re-mix them.

 

A 20-second essay of SOLO textures, in .mp3 file format, stereo, 48K 16bit PCM

See the Audacity Tutorial for more info on this part of the assignment.

 

These files will be collected on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15 - Bring them on your USB thumb drives, and/or upload them to this wiki, making sure you have your own 3-letter initial in the file name (such as, Jane Q. Student's files would be named JQS_Amb01.mp3, JQS_Rhy03.mp3, JQS_Essay.mp3, etc.) They'll be put into our own version of the AUDIO JAM application, demonstrated earlier in class.

 

If you think your files are not interesting enough or good enough, BRING THEM ANYWAY. Remember, you're only making PART of a larger picture. Even a few sinewave blips with cathedral reverb on them can be interesting enough.

 

Good luck! (and save your current projects and sound experiments for later projects, too!)

 

 

 

Assignment 3: Flash Elements

 

This penultimate project investigates basic principles of Flash. You'll be creating a small, multipage interface using your own graphic elements, images (photo or otherwise), and text.

 

First, learn the basic principles of Flash. Then, create your own basic Flash symbols (static graphic symbol, movie clip symbol, and button symbol). You'll finish with the basic interface structure, as outlined in Tutorial 13

 

For now, think PLACEHOLDER TEXT AND GRAPHICS. 

 

 

Final Project: The WEB PRESENCE

 

Create a scalable, flexible website with IDENTITY as its overarching theme. It includes HTML and Flash material, as well as your documentation/blog in a UNIFIED, INTEGRATED DESIGN.

 

The identity in question can be your own, how you define yourself, what makes you unique. You may investigate a larger identity: that of family, group, occupation, ethnicity, and even larger groups of regional or national identity, species identity, planetary identity. You may want to consider the notion of identity itself - the nature of boundaries that articulate specific groups or individuals. There are many kinds of identity: psychological, historical, aesthetic.

 

Some help in framing your ideas on identity:

Sentences on Conceptual Art by Sol LeWitt

Wooster Collective - celebrating street art. Identity worked out on the streets.

Modern Living by H. Hoogerbrugge

 

NOT SURE WHERE TO START?

 

Start by arranging your BIG BUCKETS of your identity. They might correspond to the 4 or 5 MAIN BUTTONS: ABOUT YOU (Life, Work, Defining Characteristic,)  SAMPLES (like the page-turner,, other projects), CONTACT (your email or other sites).

 

Also, learn to use the PUBLISH SETTINGS in Flash. Try creating a transparent background in Flash that allows the content to just hover above a signature jpeg graphic you can use on your HTML page as well as on your Flash.

 

WHERE DO YOU PLACE YOURSELF

in the following orientations?

 

 

Aesthetic Orientation

The Artist (Fine, Performing)

The Designer

The Amateur/Dilettante

 

Critical Orientation

The Critic

The Journalist

The Blog Commentor

 

Commercial Orientation

The Entrepreneur

The Corporate Worker Bee

                              The Consumer